5 Small Space Hacks You Need to Try ASAP

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At some point in our lives, we all have had to deal with the dreaded small living space. Whether this came in the form of a college dorm, a first apartment, or even a bedroom at home, small spaces can make us all want to pull our hair out. Transitioning from having an expanded space to put your belongings to a tighter, smaller one is difficult and if you don’t know how to properly store or arrange your items and furniture, it can leave you wanting to donate everything you own just to avoid the claustrophobia.

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Making all of your belongings fit in a small space is no easy task, either. While you want to physically have all of your possessions with you, you also don’t want to suffocate yourself with possible clutter and an overload of furniture items. The reality of living in a small space can leave us with little options, however, there is hope by finding new and creative ways to store your belongings! Are you currently living in a small space? Do you feel cramped and suffocated by your belongings? Need some simple tips on how to effectively store items without having to purge all of your possessions? These five storage hacks will give your small space a comfortable feeling and organized look- you’re going to wish you would have known about these sooner, trust me!

1. Storage Bed: In a small space, the most important thing to do is to utilize your space the best you can. In a lot of cases, this means sacrificing some furniture items to make the space for livable and breathable. A full-sized dresser and a bed can take up a large amount of area in a small space, which is where a storage bed comes in to save the day! Storage beds are amazing because they function as two pieces of furniture in one! You’ll typically see storage beds that have a set of drawers underneath the bed itself, making it a perfect place to sleep and store your clothes! Don’t you just love a dual purpose item?

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2. Coordinating Color Scheme: Sometimes you’ll notice that if a room has too much going on, it seems a lot smaller. This is because the multiple colors, patterns and textures create an illusion that the space is smaller in our eyes. To help combat the tight, narrow feeling of your small space, try incorporating a coordinating color scheme to give the space a cohesive look. For small spaces, Shelby Wax of Lonny.com suggests that “If your room is small, try to keep your colors within a certain complimentary palette.”

3. Add Mirrors: Living in a narrow space can seem cramped and leave you feeling claustrophobic whenever you try to decorate it. However, adding mirrors to narrow spaces can give the illusion that the space is broader and less cramped. Try adding a medium-sized mirror at the end of a narrow hallway or in your bathroom to make it feel more airy and spacious.

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4. Floating Shelves: Shelves are awesome pieces of furniture that help you store books, sentimental items, movies, etc., however, shelves can take up an awful lot of space, making your already small space seem like a hole that is going to swallow you up. No one wants to be buried by their Harry Potter book collection- am I right? To help free up some space, try adding floating shelves to your walls! Floating shelves look great wherever you place them, however, if you try adding the shelves around a focal point in your space, such as above your bed or around your mantle or sofa, it helps to tie the whole style together. For example, Carol Schoenfield of HGTV offers this tip, stating, “Maximize your space by adding a pair of floating shelves above the sofa. The additional surfaces provide room for displaying artwork and other mood objects, such as candles or plants.”

5. Hack Your Drawers: For a lot of us, drawers are an absolute disaster that are to be avoided at all costs. However, this drawer horror story can be completely alleviated just by simply doing a few easy hacks! For instance, reuse an old shoebox to create dividers in your drawer and eliminate unnecessary clutter. Erin Henry of RealSimple.com writes, “You can make a completely customizable set with just scissors and shoe boxes. Simply cut the boxes in half by length or width, as needed for your space, then tuck into a drawer.”

Living in a small space can be hard, especially when it comes to figuring out where to put furniture and how to store/organize all of your belongings. However, after following these easy hacks, you’ll come to find that achieving a clutter-free, breathable, small space is easier than you think! As always, good luck!

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